LAS VEGAS (Apr. 30, 2010) No. 35 BYU, the top seed in the MWC Men’s Tennis Championships, fell in semifinal action 4-2 to TCU, Friday.
BYU freshman Spencer Smith put the Cougars on the scoreboard with a straight sets victory over Soren Goritzka 6-4, 6-3 at the number five singles spot after TCU had taken the doubles point with victories at number one and three singles.
The Horned Frogs would get a 3-1 advantage in singles play with wins at number one and number three.
In number two singles Evan Urbina defeated TCU’s Zach Nichols in straight sets 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) to bring the Cougars within one 3-2, but that would be as close as they would get.
After losing the first set 6-4, BYU’s number three singles player Georgy Batrakov took the second set over Marius Cerstea 7-5, but could not come back in the third.
Senior Cassidy Mears dropped the first set at the number four singles position but came back to win the second 7-5 and was up 2-1 in the third when TCU sealed the victory at the number six position.
The Cougars won the MWC regular season title going undefeated 6-0 and have compiled a 21-6 overall record.
BYU now awaits a possible invitation to compete in the 2010 NCAA Championships. The team and individual pairings will be announced on Tues., May 4.
Results:
No. 1 Seed BYU-2
No. 4 Seed TCU-4
Doubles: (order of finish 3, 1)
1.No.37 Christopher Price/Emanual Brighiu (TCU) def. Thomas Shubert/Cassidy Mears (BYU) 8-4
2.Georgy Batrakov/Daniel Hwang (BYU) v. Soren Goritzka/Cameron Nash (TCU) DNF
3.Zach Nichols/Paul Chappell, (TCU) def. Ricardo Campos/Evan Urbina (BYU) 8-5
Singles: (order of finish 5, 1, 3, 2, 6)
1.Emanuel Brighiu (TCU) def. Thomas Shubert (BYU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1
2.Evan Urbina (BYU) def. Zach Nichols (TCU) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5)
3. Marius Cirstea (TCU) def. Georgy Batrakov (BYU) 6-4, 5-7, 6-1
4. Cassidy Mears (BYU) v. Christopher Price (TCU) DNF
5.Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Soren Goritzka (TCU) 6-4, 6-3
6. Paul Chappell (TCU) def. Daniel Hwang (BYU 6-4, 6-4